State education hosts public hearing on proposed new guidelines

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia visited Beekmantown High School last week as part of a three-stop tour of North Country schools. Elia and Regent Beverly Ouderkirk visited the school’s Eagle Mart, a student-run store. Pictured are Elia, Ouderkirk and students Alexis Marking and Ben Hall.

Photo by Elizabeth Izzo

PLATTSBURGH — State education officials visited SUNY Plattsburgh last week to hear comments on the latest draft of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The ESSA will replace the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and each state must come up with their own version of the program.

Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia said the standards aim to help disadvantaged students to receive equitable education, better prepare students for higher education and boost school accountability.

Annual assessments will still be required, and the state will establish “long-term goals” to measure student progress in an effort to bring up low-performing schools.

“We can look at something as a crisis or an opportunity,” said Regent Beverly Ouderkirk, introducing the session.

“The ESSA gives us a chance to reimagine education in New York State,” she said.

“(The plan) continues focus on students who need extra time to meet graduation measures,” said Elia. “Our plan looks at student proficiency and growth over time — a more holistic approach.”

OPT OUTS

How the proposed standards would deal with opt-outs were a chief concern among stakeholders.

New York State United Teachers Executive Board Member Don Carlisto said that educators were weary of the plan in part because of how students may be marked should they choose to opt out of exams.

“We are worried that students will be marked as ‘inefficient’ if they choose to opt out,” he said. “The New York State Education Department should make it clear that students will not be penalized.

“It is laudable that in the plan the state has established long, ambitious goals for improving academic achievement. Let’s just make sure those goals are achievable.”

Margarita Garcia-Notario, whose child attends school in the Plattsburgh City School District, echoed this concern.

“We refuse to allow any data to be used for anything other than teachers’ student or cumulative assessment,” Garcia-Notario said.

“Some of us have students that struggle greatly with these tests, now we’ve quadrupled testing,” she said. “Let the teachers teach and schools promote education.”

Jane Baton, who identified herself as a local algebra teacher, said she was concerned about standardized testing when it came to students’ math aptitude, and said rigidity in the system is not good for students.

Baton said that the way tests are written set kids up “for an extremely anxiety provoking experience.”

“Math is not about speed, it’s about thinking deeply and understanding the math,” she said, calling for more performance-based tests.

Laurene Saunders, a member of the Champlain Valley Educational Services Board of Cooperative Educational Services, said measured of achievement needs to be tempered.

“When we get into the measuring, let’s keep in based in reality,” Saunders said. “We expect much of our children, but if they haven’t been exposed to it, there’s no way.”

ADVANCED COURSE FUNDING

Another common concern was local school districts’ ability to fund career training education and advanced courses, which Elia said is something the state would incentivize districts to provide under the ESSA plan.

“Some schools can afford to offer advanced courses,” said Saunders. “Some are lucky if we get by with offering four. Maybe there’s some more thinking that can be done on that.”

Elia said: “We designed this plan to incentivise districts to reduce gaps in achievement in certain student populations.”

The commissioner noted that a large component of that would come through career technical education and advanced coursework.

PUBLIC INPUT

The forum was lightly attended.

“It is very disturbing that there are so few people in the room,” said Catherine Brown, who identified herself as a local educator. “The opportunity to speak has not been made public, though you’re claiming transparency.”

Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs Emily DeSantis told the Sun in an email the hearings had been well-publicized and defended the turnout.

“Overall, we are pleased with the amount of public comment we are receiving,” said DeSantis. “The public hearings are just the latest component in a year-long effort to gather feedback in developing the draft ESSA plan.

DeSantis said more than 4,000 people attended 120 stakeholder and public meetings.

“In addition, we posted an online survey to which 2,400 parents, educators, community members and other stakeholders responded to share feedback on school quality indicators, teacher preparation, school improvement, and accountability system design.”

STATEWIDE HEARINGS

This latest forum is the seventh in a series of 13 public hearings held throughout the state, with officials making stops in Long Island, Staten Island, the Bronx, Manhattan, Syracuse and Rochester.

The next public hearings are set for June 8 in Buffalo, June 10 in Queens, June 14 in Binghamton and June 15 in Albany.

The public also will be able to submit written comments on the draft application until June 16.

Department staff will provide a summary and response to the comments received to the Board of Regents at the July meeting.

“It is expected the Board will vote on adopting a final version of the ESSA State plan in September,” NYSED wrote on their website.

Once the Board approves the ESSA plan, NYSED will submit the plan to the U.S. Department of Education for review and approval on Sept. 18.

After the plan is approved by the USDE, the Department will work with BOCES District superintendents, the ESSA Think Tank and other groups to develop and provide guidance on implementing the ESSA plan, according to nysed.gov.